Don't be such a baby!
by Satsumi
Summary: Kaoru looked up and to his horror saw that Recca, Domon and Tokiya were all sitting on– "HIGHCHAIRS?" -tofu,ganru,reya-
1. Back to Yesteryears

**Don't Be Such a Baby!**

by, Satsumi

**Notes: ****Just in case it should come up, this is the Hokage team's current age group: Recca, Yanagi, Fuuko, Domon: 20 Tokiya: 21 Kaoru: 17 Ganko: 15. ****I know the actual age gap between Kaoru and Ganko is 4 years, forgive the intentional mistake, hehe. It's to make this story flow nicer, else it'd seem as if Ganko's left out of everything if she's too young :P Oh, and a bit of OOC warning for the Hokage's little-kid forms. Honestly! They HAVE to be cuter when they're young! If not it just defeats the whole point of the story cause being young means being cute!**

**Oh yea! And disclaimer: Do you honestly think there's a chance I might own FoR? Sheesh! Oh, but I do own the new weird madougu in the story, unless by any chance it came up in the manga and I didn't know about it! Um, that's all I think.**

****The morning sun shone brightly in the clear blue sky, and Sakoshita Yanagi awoke to the merry chirping of the song birds outside her window. She stretched lazily, jumped out of bed, went over to the window and took a deep breath of spring air. She was happy.

It was the beginning of a new year, a new semester, and a new day where the Hokage team was living.

One of the earliest to awake and get dressed, Yanagi skipped down the steps and headed towards the kitchen to get breakfast. Soon, when she was half way through frying eggs, more footsteps could be heard coming down the stairs and a pretty young blond appeared at the kitchen doorway. Yanagi turned at smiled at the fifteen-year-old. "Ohayou, Ganko-chan!"

Stifling a still sleepy yawn, Morikawa Ganko mumbled an indistinguishable greeting to Yanagi. She had grown much taller since you readers have last seen her, and her silky, golden blond hair has grown past her shoulders, held up by the same red headband she'd used since I don't know when. Ganko started to prepare a whole jug of morning tea. Yanagi looked at her watch.

_Hmm... any minute now._

Then, she and Ganko automatically started to put away breakable cups and plates and take down easily-fallen pictures and covering up the huge pot of miso soup on the stove with a lid.

Soon, a few minutes later, a completely chaotic series of ringing of different alarm clocks went off upstairs at the same time. Then, there came the yelps, and finally, loud booming sounds of objects falling onto the floor above rattled the ceiling below. Then, everything went quiet.

"They're up," said Ganko mildly, sipping from her cup of tea, and Yanagi, who had been protecting the pot of miso, sighed heavily. But alas, one last deafening thud and a crash coming from upstairs shook the entire house and emptied half of the pot's contents onto the cold marble floor.

Ganko rolled her eyes, put down her cup and shook her head, "No use crying over spilt miso, we'll just make them pay."

**O+O+O+O+~ B R E A K ~+O+O+O+O**

Kirisawa Fuuko rubbed her painful backside where she had fallen onto from her bed earlier. Her stupid alarm clock had yet again succeeded in startling her out of bed and onto the floor, like it always did. Well! She hoped the others had had a similar wake-up call. She cursed and got up promptly to dress.

Shortly, pattering sounds of feet tumbled pell-mell down the stairs, threatening to crash it down to pieces. And soon, the complete Hokage team appeared at the dining table, waiting like a pack of hungry wolves. Yanagi came out of the kitchen, holding the half-filled miso pot. "Ok, who fell out of their bed today?" she asked, looking at all of them. As expected, four hesitant hands rose up into the air.

Recca, Fuuko, Kaoru and Domon.

Ganko rolled her eyes. She knew it.

"Who fell out last?" Yanagi continued to probe.

They shrugged their shoulders and shook their heads. "W- which one?" Hanabishi Recca ventured to ask.

"The one with a crash at the end."

Immediately, there were sighs of relief and Ishijima Domon turned white.

"I... I think it was me," he stuttered.

"Well, great then!" said Yanagi finally with a smile. "No miso soup for you today."

"NOOOOO!"

Domon's imaginary self fell down and down into and empty space of doom but didn't die.

"Hmph, pathetic," Mikagami Tokiya sipped his tea slowly in his usual composed self.

"Don't 'hmph, pathetic' us!" snapped Fuuko. "How do YOU get up without falling out of bed?"

Tokiya put down his cup. "For one thing, I don't have a stupid overly loud alarm clock."

"Then how do you wake up on time?" Recca immediately joined in the discussion.

"For another," Tokiya continued as if Recca hadn't spoken. "Every morning, there comes a time when the whole house will shake with ringing, yells and bangs, and that, unfortunately, is able to wake even the dead. All I have to do is stay firmly in bed and get up later." Tokiya grabbed a piece of toast, then looked up and saw the rest of the stupid people all staring at him with tiny beady eyes.

He coughed composedly. "Ahem, so now you see why I can do very well even without an alarm clock like some stupid people."

At the insult, Fuuko instantly snapped back into reality. "Who're you calling stupid, Stupid?" she stood up, grabbing Tokiya's collar.

"Let go, you crazyass tomboy!" cried a voice that sounded like Tokiya's. But the silver-haired youth's handsome face immediately turned white, and heard Ganko's fierce whisper.

"Kondo! What are you doing behind Mikagami-niichan? Get back here!" She hissed frantically at the yellow fox creature.

"It... it wasn't me!" Tokiya began to defend immediately, looking with horror at the murderous and diabolic grin on Fuuko's face. She leaned forward, lightly pressing an index finger on his smooth left cheek.

"I never knew you thought I was a crazyass tomboy, Mi-chan~" she said in a dangerously seductive tone, that would've turned any guy on if not for that crazy pissed off look on her face (and that vein-pop on her forehead). Everyone, including Tokiya, gulped. Usually, these were the warning signs that Fuuko was about to...

At a distance, the house in which the Hokage team was living gave a loud thundering explosion, and the roof was blown off.

**O+O+O+O+~ B R E A K ~+O+O+O+O**

BREAK! Hm... you readers are probably wondering why those people are all staying together and what the hell is going on and all that stuff. Well, I had MEANT to clear that up somewhere above but too many things were happening and I just couldn't find the space to slot in the information. *grins* typical Hokage day huh, everything happening at once. OKAY, to get on to whatever, the fact is this: The older Hokage team members are all in university now! YAY! (GASP! Domon too? IMPOSSIBLE!) And they've all moved to Tokyo from wherever it was they previously stayed. And, unable to leave Kaoru and Ganko behind since all of them were kind of inseparable already, they brought the two along and now they're studying at a normal high school in the city. So NATURALLY! All of them are staying together, and YOU, the readers, are free to imagine that they rented a house or bought one or inherited one or found one or whatever cos obviously I don't care. OKAY! Back to the story!

**O+O+O+O+~ B R E A K ~+O+O+O+O**

Later, it was Mikagami Tokiya's turn to drive Kaoru and Ganko to school.

From the passenger's seat, Koganei Kaoru dared a sideways glance at the smoldering block of ice beside him, gripping the steering wheel. _Hm... a smoldering block of ice? Kind of an oxymoron_, he thought to himself. Suddenly, the pretty blonde head of Morikawa Ganko popped out in between the two front seats from the back seat.

"Ne ne, Mikagami-niichan..." she turned to Tokiya and asked hesitantly. "Anou... are you... alright?"

Kaoru nearly died on the spot trying not to laugh. Alright? Mikagami's face wouldn'tve looked as bad if it had been run over by a hundred-ton-truck. It was literally buried under bruises and scratches!

"You mean besides the fact that his face is nearly torn to pieces? Then I think he's alright," said Kaoru, trying to sound as mild as he could. Immediately, Ganko shot him a 'you-really-didn't-HAVE-to-say-that' glare, then turned back to the driving man.

"That wasn't what I meant, niichan-" she explained, but was cut off.

"I'm okay," came the short but firm answer.

"But niichan, Kondo-"

"Back to your seat, Ganko." Definitely a no-more-nonsense command.

Ganko slumped back into her seat, a small pout forming on her pink lips. She was only trying to apologize on Kondo's behalf for getting Mikagami-niichan into trouble, and that baka-Kaoru just had to rub it in and get him mad! Failing to find anyone to blame, she turned and hissed into her bag where Kondo was settled. "It's all your fault!"

The yellow fox doll sweat-dropped and laughed guiltily.

**O+O+O+O+~ B R E A K ~+O+O+O+O**

A seething Fuuko slammed her locker shut. She couldn't believe it! It was already the end of classes for the day, and naturally she hadn't managed to absorb anything discussed in lectures today because she STILL couldn't get over the insult that morning!

Mikagami! Calling her a crazyass tomboy?

"The first day of second year and it gets this lousy," she muttered as she slung her bag over her shoulder. "I have a feeling it's not going to be a good year."

She spotted her best friend at the entrance hall, waiting for her. "Yanagi!" she waved and walked over. "Why're you waiting for me? Isn't Recca taking his 'Hime' home?" she taunted playfully. The shy girl blushed predictably at the remark.

"Um... No, not today," she said. "Something came up, so I'll have to hitch a ride home with you. I thought Recca-kun sent you a message."

Fuuko raised an eyebrow. "I didn't hear anything from him all day." Then, her mobile phone beeped right on cue. She fished the green thing out of her pocket and read the late message from Recca asking her to drive Yanagi home for him. She rolled her eyes and stuffed the phone back into her pocket.

"Right, Hime, it looks like I'll have to take over his ninja job for today! Come on, and I hope you don't get carsick on motorcycles," she winked at Yanagi and both of them headed towards the car park where Fuuko had her green motorcycle parked.

"So, what's Recca so busy about?" The Fuujin-master asked casually, slipping on her helmet and handing Yanagi a spare one.

"Recca-kun said that they were having an all boys' night-out this evening straight away after school. Just the four of them," explained Yanagi.

"Hmph!" grunted Fuuko. Talking about the Hokage boys reminded her again of the infuriating block of ice who insulted her this morning. "Well, at least the place's gonna be a boys-free zone for one evening," she said huffily, hoisting herself in one graceful movement onto the seat and pulling Yanagi up behind her.

"Fuuko-chan, are... are you still mad at Mikagami-san?" asked Yanagi cautiously as they drove along the main streets. Her hands around Fuuko's slim, shapely waist felt the body underneath it tense slightly.

Fuuko turned to face the girl behind her and smiled. "Hold on tight, I'm going faster," she said hastily before turning back and slowly gathering speed.

Yanagi tightened her grip on her best friend's waist. She guessed she got her answer.

**O+O+O+O+~ B R E A K ~+O+O+O+O**

Morikawa Ganko shuffled along slowly behind the group of people in front, kicking a pebble along the way. School that day had ended and she and Kaoru were supposed to walk home together, as usual. She glanced up at the group of kids walking a little way in front of her, which consisted of Koganei Kaoru and his forever-there-girlfriends. Three of them today. (Not girlfriends as in "I-love-you,-you-love-me-girlfriends", it's female friends, ok?)

As he usually would, being the "gentleman" that he was, Kaoru had agreed to walk the girls home upon their request. And now SHE was stuck tagging along behind, thought Ganko furiously as she kicked that same pebble another couple feet ahead. Out of boredom with the mindless chatting that consisted of 'what kind of girls are you interested in, Koganei-kun?', 'do you enjoy cookies and sweets, Koganei-kun?" and 'oh, you're so smart, Koganei-kun!', she had been kicking the same poor pebble down a few streets already. Then, she stopped and thought for a moment. To be perfectly honest, she didn't have to put herself through this, really. She could've just gone straight home because she didn't exactly NEEDED him to walk her home like the other girls.

So why was she here?

"Ganko, why're you stoning there?" Kaoru's voice snapped her out of her thoughts, leaving her a little unsettled.

"Huh? Um, why don't you go ahead and walk the girls home, I... think I'll just head on home first," said Ganko, a little flustered, and with that, was about to turn to go when a whine sounded.

"But Ganko~"

She turned around and saw the charming boy's big brown puppy-dog eyes.

"Then who's going to walk me home after that?" said Kaoru, flashing her his most beseeching look.

Ganko couldn't believe the thickness of his skin! She rolled her eyes. "Fiiine..." Refusing to look at his puppy-dog face any longer, she pushed past the girls and walked up front. _Let's hurry and get this over with..._

**O+O+O+O+~ B R E A K ~+O+O+O+O**

"Bye, Koganei-chan! Thanks for walking me home, see you tomorrow at school, ne?" cried the last girl, finally disappearing into her house.

Ganko sighed to herself. Finally! They could go home. Kaoru turned to face her and flashed her his most charming smile. "Now, let's go home!"

"Uh-huh..." said Ganko unenthusiastically. At this time, she could've BEEN home already!

"You don't seem very keen to walk with me," Kaoru commented, noticing her mood.

_After all that, no._

"I'm just tired I guess." Ganko wasn't about to admit that to him!

Just then, Kaoru's mobile phone beeped, signalling that a message has arrived. Ganko looked up at him and saw his eyes widen. "Oh god, I've forgotten that I have Recca and the other boys to meet!" he exclaimed, and gave a huge leap up onto the nearest roof.

"Where're you going?" cried Ganko.

"Sorry, Ganko! I'm meeting up with the boys. I'm sure I can trust you to walk home alone without getting lost? Bye then!" And with an imaginary flying-kiss, he leapt out of sight with amazing speed, leaving Ganko gaping behind him.

"Damn you, Koganei!"

**O+O+O+O+~ B R E A K ~+O+O+O+O**

"Stand still Hanabishi so I can strangle you!" A booming voice erupted from one of the back alleys in Tokyo.

Hanabishi Recca leaped and ran from alley to alley, building to building, and hot on his trail was his three buddies, led by a livid Domon. Koganei Kaoru, trying to keep up behind them, sighed inwardly. What was meant to be a quiet night together was totally messed up when Recca had thieved Domon's entire piece of steak.

Um... well, he guessed HE had to be one of the causes as well. The boy turned back to see an infuriated Mikagami pursuing him closely with an over- powering urge to hurt, his Ensui all liquefied and ready. Maybe he shouldn'tve pushed that Fuuko-taunt too far.

"WAAAH!" Kaoru jumped up, dodging a strike from behind and blocked it with his Kougan Anki. The four raced and chased each other into a nearby park. A silent agreement crossing the between the escapers, Recca and Kaoru leaped into one of the trees and lay low. The pursuers caught up a second later, scanning the area for their targets.

Tokiya narrowed his eyes. When he gets his hands on that little shit...

In the tree, Recca and Kaoru dared not move, although they were currently in a VERY uncomfortable position. Recca was sitting on the branch while Kaoru was lying heavily on his front on one of Recca's out-stretched legs, and Recca had his other shoe in Kaoru's face. Kaoru pushed it away roughly. "Sit properly!" he hissed.

Recca moved his other leg, which was getting numb due to Kaoru's weight. "YOU sit properly!" And he pulled it out from underneath the kid.

"I can't- WHAAA!" Kaoru lost his balance and in the confusion, grabbed Recca's leg and both of them fell out of the tree!

"Hey, there's someone right below us!" cried Kaoru before they fell right on top of the poor innocent bystander who had been resting just below the tree! Before anyone could react, Domon and Tokiya were on top of them.

"AHAH! GOTCHA!" And a confused fight started amidst the kicked-up dust.

"STOP!"

"Ouch! Wrong person!"

"Oof!"

"Who are you?"

"Playing amnesia now, aren't we? Take THIS!"

"That was my FACE!"

"ARGH!"

When everything had finally settled down, Domon, panting, widened his eyes in surprise. "Who's that old guy?" he pointed towards the steaming heap behind them.

"That's why I told you guys to stop!" cried Kaoru. "We were beating this poor guy up!"

"Well, you should've told us earlier," said Domon accusingly.

"I did, you deaf gorilla!" yelled Kaoru.

"What didja call me?" cried Domon before pouncing on the kid and starting another fight.

"It seems..." Suddenly, the old man who had been silent, spoke up in an echoic, mysterious kind of voice. "It seems you youngsters still have a lot to learn about being adults. Fighting, squabbling over trivial incidents, waking me up and disturbing my peace... I see some of you might be in your twenties, but still you act like insufferable children."

Recca raised an eyebrow. "What's up with this guy?"

The man reached a dried up, wrinkled hand into his robe. Tokiya's sharp eyes caught the movement and moved into a prepared stance. "Careful, he's got something under his clothes."

Recca took a sharp breath as he saw the hand bringing out something round and shiny. It was a-

"Madougu!" he cried.

"Let me help you impertinent youngsters to act your age..." hissed the old man before the madougu in his hand started to glow red, illuminating the kanji character 'Sai', which meant age.

Briefly catching sight of the kanji character, Tokiya called out to the others. "He's going to do something, get-" but before he could finish, everywhere was overwhelmed by a blinding white light... and then, everything went black.

**O+O+O+O+~ B R E A K ~+O+O+O+O**

When Hanabishi Recca gradually came round, he felt funny. Not the funny-funny kind of funny, but the something-is-not-quite-right kind of funny, got it? He sat up and rubbed his half-closed eyes cutely with the back of his hands.

_Wait a minute. Hanabishi Recca does NOT rub his half-closed eyes with the back of his hands!_

He shook his head and moved his hands away from his eyes. He stood up, and immediately noticed that the world was wrong.

Hmm... not exactly wrong-wrong. But the world just kinda seemed bigger than it used to. The trees taller, the buildings larger...

Recca looked up.

Hm, the sky seemed further.

He looked down.

Hm... come to think of it, the ground seemed closer too.

Something was amiss. But what?

"You've got to be the slowest person in human history."

Came a childish voice that Recca did not recognize. He turned around and found himself facing an incredibly cute, blue-eyed kid with slivery hair tied up in a short ponytail. The kid wore a very familiar scowl on his face and had his arms crossed hostilely.

Recca frowned, but since he couldn't seem to place the kid, he shouted back. "Who're YOU calling-" But before he finished, Recca cut himself off as his hands flew to his mouth. The squeaky, totally unmanly voice that erupted from his own throat caused him to shut up immediately.

"Hmph!" the kid grunted condescendingly. "I wonder how it feels like to be brainless."

"I'll be happy to dig yours out for you!" And with that, Recca jumped on top of the other boy and they started to pummel each other up. Then, suddenly in the middle of the fight there came a deafening yell.

"WHAAAT HAPPENED?"

The fighting boys stopped what they were doing, looked up and saw a tiny spiky brown head with large teary olive green eyes pop out from underneath a pile of overlarge clothes. It was a boy about three to four years of age, and Recca saw him open his eyes wide when the child noticed them.

"Recca-niichan? Tokiya-niichan?"

Recca frowned. "Who are you? How do you know me?" He asked solemnly as if it was the most sensible question to ask in the world.

He got an immediate whack in the back of the head by the first boy. "He's Koganei you insufferable idiot!"

"YOU'RE the insufferable idiot! Koganei is THIS tall!" argued Recca hotly, raising his hand level to his eyes where Koganei's height had reached when they last measured.

"Well, look at how tall you are now," the cool boy mocked, his arms crossed.

"I am NOT short you rude little brat!"

"And a little brat like yourself is going to stop me?"

Seeing sparks were about to fly again, Kaoru ran up to the glaring two. "Mou ii, let's call it a day, Tokiya-niichan, Recca-niichan."

"I am going to-!" Recca stopped in mid-sentence. "To- Tokiya?" he ogled at the narrow-eyed boy in front of him, recognition finally showing on his face.

"Hmph!" Tokiya, refusing to argue with stupidity any longer and disgrace himself, turned around. "Where's Domon?"

Then, right on cue, an ear-splitting wail shattered the air.

"WAAAaaa!"

"Domon!" Everyone spun around and made for some nearby bushes. And he was there, tiny, and crying a puddle of tears. "Wha... what happened?" Domon sobbed, looking at his little fists that he had once been so proud of. Recca looked at his own over-sized clothes, draping loosely over his shoulders.

"I- I think we've been... SHRUNK!"

Tokiya slapped his forehead.

"I think more likely we've been reduced back to children," Kaoru gave a more acceptable answer.

"Chi- children?" Domon gave a strangled cry.

Kaoru looked at himself, and nodded. "I think we're about three to four years of age."

"It's that madougu! And that old geezer! HE did this to us!" cried Recca in realization.

"Glad you finally figured that out, Hanabishi," said Tokiya sardonically.

"Where is HE? I'll beat the shit out of him!"

"Recca-niichan! This is no time to beat the shit out of anybody, he's gone now anyways, we have to figure out what to do," said Kaoru.

"I want my mama!" Domon wailed piteously.

WHACK!

"Shut up, I need to think," said Tokiya, tucking the Ensui hilt back into one of his pockets.

"I think we should first get back home," said Recca.

Having no better ideas himself, Tokiya nodded in agreement. "First sensible thing you've said all day, Hanabishi. Let's go."

And so, the four children hitched up their extremely baggy clothes and started shuffling hastily back onto the streets towards home.

"I wonder if we'll have to miss class after this," said Domon as he hurried on his now short little legs.

"You wouldn't have to worry about that for now," Recca muttered, trying to keep his trousers up.

"Hey, wait for me, you jerks!" yelled Kaoru, picking up his now relatively ginormous Kougan Anki. Remember it always used to seem already over-sized even when he was using it when he was 13? Well, imagine how it'll look now that he's 4! LOL~

Panting, he dragged his enormous weapon and clambered after the others.

**Was that cruel? NAH! Just nice! If you thought that was nice, please review so I'll know and do better next time. If you thought it sucked, please review anyways so I can do worse next time! To those who enjoyed it or have some constructive advice to share, can I please ask for a well-deserved review? I'm not that sure about the next chapter any time soon (been kind of busy), but if the response is good I just might get the next chap up real soon. So, you know what to do, ne? ^_^**


	2. Babysitting

**Chapter 2 - Babysitting**

**Hello, I'm back! Muakz muakz! That was thanks for all those sweet people who reviewed! Especially Mouse, I always love your reviews best! And sorry for all those story errors I made ;P Yea, I haven't finished reading the manga, I'm up to the 18th book and that's probably why I didn't know Kurei took Kaoru back to 400 years ago! WHY? Oh well, and moreover I didn't know that the madougu I thought was genuinely created by me already had a similar counterpart in the story, if my first reviewer hasn't given me the wrong info ^_^ I'll have you guys know that that was totally unintentional, ok? So do not doubt the originality of my fic because that would be a great insult to all my efforts put in. *Sniff sniff***

**Disclaimer: I wonder if all this is really necessary cos OBVIOUSLY I do not own the characters and all (including the mysterious "age" madougu thing) except the plot of the story. Well, enjoy!**

Thunders crashed and lightning flashed. It was raining heavily in Tokyo that night.

The three Hokage girls were lounging in the living room after a good home-cooked meal. Ganko was finishing her homework on the table, and Yanagi was watching her progress while peeling oranges. Fuuko was lying sideways on the tatami in front of the TV with Kondo, immersed in a comedy talk-show.

They were just savoring the nice and quiet time at home when there came a knock on the door. Yanagi looked up, "Who could it be at this hour?" She glanced out the window at the unnerving weather outside. "And in this weather too."

"Not the boys that's for sure," Fuuko grunted. "They've got a key."

"I'll get it!" Spotting the chance to slack off, Ganko volunteered to answer the door, and got up.

**O+O+O+O+~ B R E A K ~+O+O+O+O**

The boys were all panting as heavily as the rain was falling when they reached the porch of their home. Soaking wet, they had taken turns in carrying Kaoru's enormous Hokage weapon all the way, and it had taken them more than twice the usual amount of time required to get home. What with their now shorter and stumpier legs, the Kougan Anki, their baggy clothes, the rain, and the rain which soaked their baggy clothes making them even baggier and heavier, it was a miracle they even managed to arrive home that very same day.

Stepping onto the porch, Recca dumped the Kougan Anki roughly onto the floor.

"Hey-!"

"Hey, it was heavy!" Recca countered before Kaoru could continue yelling at him.

"Would you people shut up and just open the damn door?" snapped an extremely ticked off Tokiya. Grumbling, Recca moved towards the door, shoved his hands deep into his pocket and fished out the keys to the front door. Then, he reached up to put the key through the keyhole.

...

After a second or two standing there motionless, Recca glanced back at the others, an anxious look on his face.

"What?" Tokiya asked impatiently.

"I... I can't reach the doorknob."

"WHAT?" cried the rest of them.

"Lemme try!"

Each of them frantically took turns in trying to reach the key to the lock. But no one, including the usually tall Domon, could reach even within one feet of the knob.

"Let's try another way," said Recca commandingly. "Domon, bend down so I can get on your shoulders, then Tokiya can climb on top of me, and Kaoru comes last."

"Excuse me, do I look stupid?" Tokiya sneered.

Recca rolled his eyes, "Fine, Kaoru, you climb on my shoulders."

The next moment, they were all balanced riskily on top of one another, except Tokiya, who was watching silently on the side with his arms crossed. Wobbling dangerously, Domon shuffled closer towards the door, but Recca's face was turning purple. "K- Kaoru, your..."

Kaoru look down to find his legs wrapped all too tightly around Recca's neck, choking off his oxygen supply. The next moment, Recca's hands had grabbed his legs and pried open their vice-like grip.

"Wha!" Kaoru cried and fell backwards, taking all the others below crashing to the floor along with him.

Tokiya rubbed his aching right temple. How he got stuck with this bunch of stupid people he really didn't know, and without further ado, he walked past the pile of fallen humans up to the door. He raised a hand, threw the others a condescending look and a classical "hmph!" before rapping smartly on the door.

The others' jaws hit the cold hard floor.

**O+O+O+O+~ B R E A K ~+O+O+O+O**

Morikawa Ganko opened the door and HER jaw hit the cold hard floor.

"Uh..." Was all she managed to say after a moment's silence.

"Who's that, Ganko?" Fuuko's head popped out from behind Ganko's.

"Uh... chibi Hokage boys?"

Fuuko took one unimpressed look at the dripping kids in front of them.

"You're kidding."

"Damn it woman, let us in!" Tokiya yelled finally, all patience gone.

At that, Fuuko's eyes widened. "Okay, that's definitely Mikagami. Let them in," she said.

**O+O+O+O+~ B R E A K ~+O+O+O+O**

Yanagi clasped her hands together, starry-eyed. "Oh my gosh, don't they just look _sooo_ adorable in these clothes?"

"Um..." Ganko and Fuuko stared at the display in front of them, not quite knowing what to say.

The boys stood in a straight line -Recca in a small white Ultraman T-shirt and shorts, Tokiya in a little green sweater and jeans, Kaoru had on a yellow pullover and dungarees, and Domon wore white pajamas with black stripes.

"But these are Ganko's old clothes," said Kaoru, he looked down at his dungarees, pulling them further out.

"If you have anything to say about my clothes you can walk around naked," Ganko snapped.

They had found out what happened to the boys, and finally decided that the best thing to do for now was to make do with the situation before they could contact Kagerou and try to find out about the mysterious madougu, and a way to locate the old man and find a way to change the boys back.

"That's just great. Besides a pile of homework, now I have to babysit demon spawns," groaned Ganko.

**O+O+O+O+~ B R E A K ~+O+O+O+O**

"Why do I have to come along?" grumbled little-Tokiya, arms crossed as he shuffled along beside Kirisawa Fuuko.

"Because unfortunately for you and me, it's my turn to be in charge of you today so you're not allowed out of my sight," Fuuko snapped irritably, not too happy with the prospect of being stuck with this impudent little smartass the entire day herself. She hurried towards her locker to get ready for her first lecture, and sighed inwardly as she opened her locker door. She entertained herself with the thought of possibly shoving Tokiya face first into the locker and keeping him there until classes are over. But to be perfectly honest, she would have been worse off coming to school with Recca, Domon or Kaoru tagging along. Though an irritating puny little know-it-all, at least Tokiya wasn't a bundle of trouble like the other three. If anything, he was the best amongst all of them at keeping himself out of trouble.

"Hey, Fuuko-chan, who's that adorable-looking little boy? Your brother?" A female course mate came over and interrupted her thoughts.

_God forbid that!_

"No! Uh... he's my cousin who's come to stay!"

"I see~ My gosh, doesn't he look charming?"

Fuuko looked down at the little boy in front of her, with his arms crossed and gazing at the her course mate in an unimpressed way. Unwillingly, she had to admit that even as a kid, Tokiya made an incredibly cute one. The girl bent down and was about to pat his head when Tokiya smoothly dodged the descending hand and slid a few feet away.

"See no touch, sister."

"Manners, Tokiya!" Fuuko's warning came out almost by reflex, even though secretly inside, she was strangely glad that the girl didn't succeed in her attempt.

"Tokiya? His name is Tokiya? He has the same name as Mikagami-senpai?" squealed the surprised girl.

"Yea, whatever, just coincidence," said Fuuko hastily. It was really dumb of her to call him Tokiya in front of others, even if she had been distracted. "Come along, _cousin_ Tokiya," she stressed her last words and dragged Tokiya off to class.

**O+O+O+O+~ B R E A K ~+O+O+O+O**

Tokiya yawned, and rested his head in his right palm. "This is such an insult to my intelligence, instead of attending one of my useful law lectures, I'm degraded and stuck in an arts one listening to a retarded lecturer rambling on about how wallpaper colors compliment floor tiles while sitting around equally retarded students who are trying to take notes and steal continuous glances at me at the same time, thinking I wouldn't notice their pedophilic behavior."

The next second, he got a resounding whack in the back of his head.

"Shut up, smart boy. Unlike you, I have to concentrate," Fuuko muttered irritably, resisting the urge to pull out her Fujin and blast Tokiya off to some planet far far away. However, what Tokiya had said was true. Already, quite a few times, Fuuko had noticed her course mates, especially the girls, throw occasional glances of curiosity at the little boy sitting next to her.

"Hmph," she grunted crossly, and tried again to concentrate on taking notes with Tokiya suppressing another cute little yawn beside her.

**O+O+O+O+~ B R E A K ~+O+O+O+O**

"I'm home," Ganko called as she took off her shoes at the doorstep. She could hear Yanagi in the kitchen, preparing dinner and Recca squabbling with Domon in the living room. She glanced at her watch.

5.30pm.

Fuuko had late classes that day so she must not be home yet. Avoiding the noisy crowd, Ganko slipped into her own room, lightly kicked the door shut, took off her uniform and pulled a loose white t-shirt over her undergarments, falling back heavily onto her soft comfy bed.

School was hell today.

Everyone at school was bugging her about Kaoru's uncharacteristic absence. He skipped classes occasionally, yes, but not school. And it was already two days in a row.

"Why is Koganei-kun absent again today?"

"Is Koganei-kun sick?"

"Oh dear, I'm so worried!"

Ganko sighed. And worst of all, fed up with all the attention, she had just went along with the "Koganei-kun is sick" theory.

Big mistake.

"Oh no, how's he doing?"

"Uh.. still quite well, I think."

"I know! Why don't we pop over his place and visit him tomorrow?"

"Um.. I don't-"

"Great! We can bring him some flowers and fill him in on school work!"

"I bet he'll be glad to see us, he must be so lonely at home alone."

Now on her bed with her hands folded behind her head, Ganko rolled her eyes. _Sure he'd be lonely!_

**O+O+O+O+~ B R E A K ~+O+O+O+O**

Koganei Kaoru paced anxiously outside Ganko's room, holding her madougu in his hands. He looked over at the doll that used to be Kondo, lying motionless on the floor, stashed behind the stairs. He had ventured into Ganko's room earlier on to get a change of clothing after getting them dirty with mud. Kondo was in her room as usual, but to his enormous surprise, not in his usual yellow fox-form!

_~ Flashback ~_

_Kaoru rubbed his eyes as he stared at a perfect reflection of himself. A chibi-Kaoru form._

_"K... Kondo?"_

_"Nope, wrong answer! For now, I am supposed to be Koganei Kaoru!" said Kondo in an aggravatingly Kaoru-like voice, and flashed the boy in front of him one of Kaoru's infamous Koganei-fanged-grins. He looked exactly like himself! The only difference was that Kondo-Kaoru had Ganko's madougu tied around his neck just like the yellow fox had._

_"Stop aping me, you copy-fox!" Kaoru yelled at his counterpart._

_"Nyah!" Kondo-Kaoru dragged the sides of his mouth wide open and stuck out his pink tongue at Kaoru before darting out of the room._

_Forgetting why he was in Ganko's room in the first place, Kaoru dashed after him, intending to beat him into a pulp. He searched the house for the little impersonator, then heard his own voice coming from the kitchen, humming a merry tune._

_"Now I gotta get some fudge for Ganko when she gets home~"_

_Kondo had climbed onto the kitchen counter and was rummaging through the larder to find the jar that contained the chocolate fudges. Grinning, Kaoru leaned flat against the wall just outside the kitchen door. As Kondo-Kaoru skipped out of the kitchen, holding a tissue full of fudge, Kaoru pounced ferociously on his prey... After a while, he suddenly noticed that Kondo wasn't fighting anymore. Looking more closely, he noticed that it had turned back to its usual form, and lying lifelessly on the floor. Kaoru glanced around and spotted its untied madougu rolling off towards the other end of the living room._

Oops.._. The madougu must've come off accidentally during their scuffle._

_Kaoru got up and went to retrieve the red magical sphere. Kneeling beside the doll, he tried to tie it back onto the doll's neck, but then remembered that it would be useless. __He wasn't the master or a wielder of this madougu. He did not have an extremely desperate desire strong enough to induce the Kata Kugutsu to mimic a person's features, like Ganko did by yearning to see her deceased mother and to... him?_

_Kaoru frowned quizzically. Come to think of it, how did Ganko manage to make Kondo assume his appearance? And why?_

_Did she somehow...? What was she feeling? Extreme anger? Annoyance?_

_...love?_

_Kaoru shook his head vigorously. Anyways, the sure case was that he wouldn't be able to work the madougu no matter what._

_~ End of flashback ~_

Now, holding the red sphere in his little hands, Kaoru hesitated outside Ganko's room.

Should he tell her the truth? That he had accidentally loosened Kondo's madougu in a fight? Or should he just play dumb and pretend he didn't know anything and had nothing to do with it? Looking at the motionless doll that he had hid behind the stairs, he thought about Ganko. She might get upset if she couldn't find Kondo. He sighed inwardly. Finally making his decision, he raised a hand and was about to knock on the door when it opened abruptly. He took a sharp intake of breath, looked up and saw Ganko standing in front of him, towering above his short stature.

Ganko's eyes brightened when she saw him. "Kondo! I've been looking for you, where've you been? You knew very well you shouldn't be out of my room, what if somebody sees you?"

"Uh..." Kaoru gaped at her, but Ganko suddenly noticed something.

"Oh my gosh, your madougu's come off! It's a good thing you're still holding it, else you would've changed back into a lifeless doll. Come, I'll fasten it back for you."

And to Kaoru's enormous surprise, she picked him up and went back into her room!

Ganko went over to her chair and sat down in it, sitting "Kondo" on her lap. She proceeded to retie the madougu onto his neck. Not noticing that "Kondo" was unusually quiet, she kept on talking. "You really should be more careful next time, Kondo. And next time if you want anything and I'm not here, you have to wait till I'm back, okay?"

Kaoru sat rigidly on Ganko's lap, not daring to move one bit as he felt the girl's hand slid around and brush against his neck while trying to fasten the sphere. His brown eyes moved cautiously downwards and his vision came into contact with a pair of long slender legs. Kaoru gulped as he felt the temperature around his cheeks rise rapidly. Unable to fight curiosity, his eyes traveled upwards...

_God, she's wearing black...!_

Kaoru grabbed his nose and tore his eyes away from the "dangerous" scene to prevent an unstoppable flow of nose blood.

_Heaven forbid that she has to walk around in that!_ Kaoru cursed inwardly. But this was her room, so OBVIOUSLY she could dress in a bikini in here if she wanted to as long as she didn't walk around the house in those.

_But Kondo! Does she strut around dressed like that in front of Kondo? _Kaoru shook his head vigorously. What was wrong with him? _Kondo's a doll -a lifeless, emotionless dummy for heaven's sake! He wouldn't be reacting like you are now if he were in your position!_ Kaoru scolded himself. As he felt the little handkerchief tightened slightly around his neck, Kaoru frowned perplexedly. The madougu wouldn't affect him, that's for sure, because he wasn't a lifeless object that could be brought to "life". But it wasn't that he was wondering about, what made him puzzled was the fact that he hadn't bothered earlier on to correct Ganko that he wasn't, in fact, her dummy Kondo, and allowed himself to be carried into her room, from which the real him was usually banned, not to mention being sat on her lap and have the madougu tied to him!

Why? Why had this happened?

The only sensible explanation he could manage to come up with was that he was too much in shock to react. Ganko wasn't usually that nice to him.

_Yea,_ he thought conclusively._ That must be it!_

Because it couldn't be anything else.

Totally unaware of the raging emotions around her, Ganko finished tying up the madougu and twisted Kaoru around to face her.

"There, all done!" she smiled one of her rare and sweet smiles, which for the briefest of moments, rendered Kaoru speechless as he stared, mesmerized at her enchanting beam.

"You seem unnaturally quiet today, Kondo," Ganko stated gently, head tilted slightly to one side as she regarded him.

Kaoru jerked out of his daydream. He had to tell Ganko he wasn't Kondo! He had to! _But... the consequences?_ Kaoru gulped silently. He was sure his death day was near.

"I uh.. am.. Kaoru.." the "I" came out quite audible, but the last words were totally undecipherable, lost in a series of draggy and mumbly words and sounds.

"Hm? What did you say?" said Ganko and shifted her face sideways and leaned closer towards Kaoru to hear what she didn't manage to catch.

Kaoru sighed, losing his nerve half way. "Nothing, I was just uh.. wondering how you did at school today."

At this Ganko rolled her crystal blue eyes and made an indignant sound. "Fun as hell."

Not catching her cynical tone, Kaoru raised an eyebrow. "Fun?" Was it because he wasn't there?

"Well no of course! D'you think I could possibly have a good time after what that Koganei-kid left at school for me to clean up after him?" said Ganko.

"Uh..."

"And thanks to all his flirting and my stupidity, we're going to have a bunch of Koganei-fans over tomorrow for a visit," groaned Ganko. "What was I thinking when they decided to come over I don't know, I just didn't say anything."

"You sound tired," said Kaoru, trying to sound bland.

He didn't know Ganko thought he was a flirt.

"You would be too if you'd had to deal with all of his well-wishers from the day one he was absent," said Ganko, leaning back in her seat. "And I have to hurry up and figure out what to do tomorrow to clean up this mess I made. We can't have other people coming over and knowing that Kaoru and the others've shrunk back to kids."

"Oh..." Came the reply. "Listen, why-"

"Ganko-chan~ It's dinner time!" Yanagi's voice interrupted him.

Ganko jumped up from her chair. "Coming!" she called out and placed Kaoru on her soft bed. She went over to her drawer and fished out a pair of denim shorts and pulled them on. "I'll talk to you later. Stay here okay?" And giving him a quick squeeze, she darted out of her room and went downstairs, leaving a speechless Kaoru behind.

Was he going to have to miss dinner?

His tummy rumbled in protest. And upon hearing his name being called next, he made his decision and tore off the madougu on his neck, leaving it on the bed and dashing out the door. He could be Koganei Kaoru now and eat his dinner, then rush upstairs later and tie that madougu back in place. No one would notice.

**Hm.. how was that? I ought to have put more Tofu stuff in, I know. But unfortunately I'm a bigger Kaoru fan ^_^ But Mouse and a lot of the others like Tofu, up till now, I haven't had anyone tell me that they liked Kaoru yet. So I guess I'll just have to insert more Tofu in the next chap. And you guys, do tell me how I've done with the character personalities and how you find them, I'm afraid I might've made some of them gone waaaaaaay OOC. So, get the hint? Read and review! You can praise and criticize but tell me something useful! Muakz! Have a good day!**


	3. A Truth Comes Out

**Chapter 3 - A Truth Comes Out**

**Disclaimer: I don't own a bloody thing.**

**Booya! New chapter up and I'm so proud of myself! Thanks a million to all the wonderful reviewers who bothered to review. Y'all rockz!**

**To xabie: erm… I wouldn't call Fuuko and Ganko pedophiles cos they actually _knew_ that Tokiya and Kaoru were actually grown-ups, and if they fall in love they are falling in love with them cos they're them, not because they're children. And Ganko already liked Kaoru before he turned into a kid. But those other people were interested in Tokiya even when they had no idea that Tokiya was actually an adult! Yea, um… does that make sense? Hope it does, haha.**

**To desrinee: Yea… sorry about 'The Sweetest Feeling' but I'm kind of at a writer's block for that one, hehe. But I'll definitely finish it after I get back my draft I left back home overseas. My sister still hasn't emailed it to me yet ;P**

**And special thanks also to linda and lingling for your reviews! Love them!**

**Longest Review of the Chapter Award goes to… (drums roll) Mouse-chan! Aka tikus. (sign in next time, will ya?) This chapter is for you dear! Enjoy everyone!**

Koganei Kaoru leaped off the last few steps of the stairs and raced into the dining room. He heard a lot of voices, so everyone must already be there. But… something about the dining room seemed different somehow...

"Um… where's my chair?" Koganei looked around. There were only three normal chairs, and the girls were sitting in them. Where the rest of the chairs used to be, there were several extra stilts from some other furniture. But what they were, he couldn't tell from his height, which was below table surface.

"Your place is up here, with_ us_," came an unenthusiastic mumble. It was Recca.

Kaoru looked up, and to his utmost horror, saw that his friends were all sitting on–

"HIGHCHAIRS?" A strangled cry escaped Kaoru's throat.

"Yes, Kaoru-chan. Now come on, I'll help you up," Yanagi smiled sweetly and held out her hands to a terror-stricken Kaoru. He backed away a few steps.

"Uh… wait, I… ah…" he stuttered incomprehensively.

"Oh, come on, we're 20 and if we aren't even making a fuss I'm sure you could handle that bit of humiliation too," Recca stated sedately from his higher vantage point.

Kaoru glanced suspiciously at the pieces of cloth binding Recca's hands and feet firmly to the chair. He turned and saw the same thing with Domon, and to his horror and amusement, even on Mikagami Tokiya! Feeling the boy's gaze on him. Tokiya cleared his throat and "hmph-ed" coldly before turning the other way.

"Come on now, everyone's waiting so we could start dinner," urged Yanagi gently, holding out her hands further. Kaoru jumped another step back.

"There's NO way I'm getting on THAT!" he cried decidedly and prepared to run for his life, but someone else was just a tad bit quicker than him.

"There IS a way you're getting on that! Like THAT!" And with that 'THAT', Kaoru was suddenly attacked from behind and felt himself being roughly swept off the floor by his collar and dumped squarely onto his highchair.

"Hmph!" Kirisawa Fuuko dusted her hands coolly after her fourth job in a row.

"Ok Domon, pay up! You lost," Recca cried in a sing-song voice and nudged a sulking Domon beside him.

"How come _you_ knew he'd be sent into his seat the same way as us?" grumbled Domon complainingly as he handed over a few dollar bills.

"Because I also happen to know that he has an ego bigger than his head!" said Recca, still feeling victorious.

Fuuko slapped her hands down on the arm-rests of Kaoru's chair. Kaoru drew back as if he was face-to-face with a monster.

"Now you can either choose to be in bondage like the others… OR! Promise that you wouldn't run off halfway, and eat your dinner like a good little boy," she said in a seemingly sweet voice. Petrified by her stare, Kaoru could only manage to nod rigidly. Suddenly, Yanagi remembered something.

"Oh yes, and all of you must put on…" she reached behind her back. "These!"

All of their eyes widened.

…...

"NOOOO!"

**O+O+O+O+~ B R E A K ~+O+O+O+O**

"For as long as I can remember…" said Recca disbelievingly. "I've never worn anything as embarrassing as THIS!" he yelled, pulling up his huge yellow bib with the colored print of a little yellow chick in the middle saying: "Piyo!"

"Well, mine has "Wash your hands before you eat" on it, how dumb is that?" mumbled Domon unenthusiastically.

Kaoru glanced over at Tokiya's second bib, which was sickly pink, with the faggot face of Hello Kitty printed all over it. Tokiya had his arms folded uncomfortably in front of it in a silent, vain attempt to cover up the shameful thing. Kaoru looked down at his own bib which Ganko had chosen and tied up for him –not as gently as she was with "Kondo", but at least she didn't attempt to strangle him, like Fuuko almost did to Tokiya for destroying his first purple bib with his Ensui (Where did Yanagi find so many bibs I don't know). Kaoru looked down at his own. It was blue with some pictures of fruits on it. He peered over at Ganko, who was eating her dinner silently, ignoring the shouts and bickers, leaving them to Fuuko to handle.

Hm… maybe he should be thankful after all… at least his didn't look as embarassing.

**O+O+O+O+~ B R E A K ~+O+O+O+O**

Later in the evening, when Kaoru thought the time was about right, he excused himself to bed when Ganko was about to finish her homework and rushed up to her room to retie the madougu to his neck.

As he sat on her soft bed, he observed the pretty, feminine room he was in, and had to admit that Morikawa Ganko had one of the best tastes in any girl he has known. A few posters of famous pop stars, which complimented the wallpaper, were stuck onto a blank part of the wall, and the decorations were all the right colors and in the right places. Though not the neatest girl in the world, thought Kaoru, spotting a few unfolded clothes on her bed and one or two pieces of undergarments and her uniform strewn on the carpeted floor, she still kept her room reasonably clean.

Lying back on the cool, velvety folds of her bed quilt, he inhaled the mystifying but sweet and appealing feminine scent in her room. It wasn't perfume, just a naturally delightful smell that spelt G-A-N-K-O. Then, his face turned solemn with thoughts.

Why was he here in the first place?

Of course! It was to cover up for "murdering" Kondo. That one he had an answer to. But he realized that the truth was going to come out sooner or later and he was going to get it, and get it good from Ganko. So… why was he putting his life at such a great risk? He could've just told Ganko about the scuffle and everything, and get maybe only a hostile comment or insult. After all, Ganko couldn't possibly blame him if Kondo was the one who showed himself to him and taunted him in the first place. She can be snappy but she wasn't unreasonable.

Kaoru sat up abruptly and shook his head violently. Why was he arguing with himself now?

He lay back down with a sigh. It seemed like he was finding himself excuses to carry on with this act. Why? What was his purpose? He asked himself these over and over again for some time, then soon had some sort of vague answer.

Curiosity.

He had to find something out. Well, he still had yet to figure out what that 'something' was but he was sure there _was_ something, and he was sure he would figure it out later. He had questions to ask -questions whose answers he wouldn't normally get out of Ganko if she knew he was Koganei Kaoru and not Kondo, whom he had a feeling she always confided in. Kaoru frowned. He felt like how he was sure someone would feel if they were reading someone else's diary without their consent. A really selfish and wrong thing to do. He knew. And this wasn't like Koganei Kaoru at all… Then why? Why was he–

Just as he was immersed in his own thoughts, he was interrupted by the door creaking open, and the next moment, Ganko came in. Kaoru immediately shook off all his confusing thoughts and sat up as the girl stretched lazily.

Landing heavily onto her bed beside Kaoru, Ganko let out a soft sigh of contentment. "Alone in our room at last…" she said, then abruptly turned to lie on her front and face Kaoru, propping her head up with her palms. "Ne? Kaoru-chan?" She gave him a sweet smile.

Kaoru froze. His body froze, his blood froze, his heart froze, and so did his brain. He couldn't think, couldn't react. Time must've frozen too.

Oh my god, did she somehow guess who he was? But how?

Ganko laughed a silvery, delightful little laugh. "Don't look so shocked, Kondo. We agreed that we should call you Kaoru when we're alone together, remember?"

Kaoru let out the breath he had been unconsciously holding for the last ten seconds. Of course... pretence! She pretends that Kondo is the real him when they're alone. Obviously, what other purpose of changing the fox doll's form? He should've thought of that!

"Yea… I haven't forgotten, Ganko-chan," he added an address form he wouldn't normally use. "So, uh… what are you planning to do if Kaoru's schoolmates are still coming tomorrow?"

Ganko let out a defeated sigh. "I think I'll just have to work something out with Kaoru tomorrow. Hopefully that smart brain of his will figure out something to worm our way out of this." Turning again to lie on her back, she absent-mindedly pulled Kaoru on top of her and wrapped her hands around him like how a girl would hug her favorite stuffed toy, gazing up at the ceiling full of silver glow-in-the-dark stars.

Kaoru, temporarily devoid of all ability to think due to the pulse-quickening fact that they were now so close together he could literally hear her heart thumping gently against her soft chest just beneath his left ear, stared straight ahead at the ceiling, not daring to even take a loud breath or make any sudden moves.

"You're so warm tonight, Kondo," said Ganko, gradually feeling Kaoru's body heat. "Is the heater too hot?" She got up and reached over to the heater next to her bed. "Hm… it _is_ a bit warm, isn't it?" She turned it down a few degrees, then got up and stood on the carpeted floor.

And to Kaoru's enormous surprise and horror, she reached down, pulled off her denim shorts and started to unbutton her shirt! The white cotton top immediately revealed a sexy black bra underneath and also a pair of matching panties. Eyes as wide as dinner plates, Kaoru inhaled sharply and clutched his nose. It was all he could do to keep from getting a mega nose-bleed right then and there.

With her hands already behind her back, ready to unhook her bra, Ganko noticed his odd behavior, and blushing slightly, she chuckled. Clambering onto her bed on all fours, she came face to face with Kaoru. Kaoru backed away into the wall as if she were some kind of monster. Smiling, she said. "I do that in front of you every night, Kondo, whatever form you happen to be in. You don't need to entertain me like that by acting so realistically like him," she knocked his head playfully. "You know it always makes me blush!" Then, she sat up, reached behind her back and unhooked her bra, then pulled off her panties and threw them across the room right into the laundry basket against the wall.

After a split moment of gazing at the rare and beautiful scene in front of him, Kaoru finally managed, with every bit of self-control he could ever muster in his entire life, to drag his vision away from the heart-stopping sight in front of him and turned to look determinedly sideways. His thoughts were going haywire. Even his heart... She might not hear it, but heaven and hell knew his heart was hammering like crazy!

He never knew, never noticed. That the little munchkin he used to know had already long grown into a young lady with beauty to rival that of Venus. And man did she have a hot body! All the curves and bumps in the right places, just the right, healthy skin color, and only now did he realize how perfectly her long golden hair complimented her entire figure.

When he finally dared to venture another glance at Ganko to see if she was properly dressed, he was relieved to find that she already had on a set of pale yellow pajamas and was rummaging about in her schoolbag. It's a bit of a pity those cloths had to conceal such a wonderful work of art beneath them, Kaoru thought rather wistfully. Soon, Ganko scrambled onto her bed with a few books tucked underneath her arm. "Ok, a few more stuff to do then we can hit the hay," she said, propping her fluffy pillow up behind her against the wall and leant back against it. She reached over to Kaoru and lifted him onto her laps. "And you can help me by holding this and turning the page when I tell you to," she instructed, putting one of two notebooks on his lap, and started turning the pages of the book in her hands to a certain page and immediately started writing.

Kaoru's eyes widened with surprise when he saw the books' contents. These weren't what Ganko was supposed to be learning. It looked more like _his_ syllabus! Eyebrows knitted together in puzzlement, he tilted one side of the book he was holding to squint at the cover. Sure enough, it was a notebook with notes given to pupils his grade. Was Ganko doing something beyond her syllabus? Couldn't be; Ganko wasn't particularly bright like him or Mikagami.

Then, he caught sight of the name on the book cover.

SATOU AIKO.

An eyebrow raised. _Aiko-san?_

Satou Aiko was one of his female classmates.

His thoughts were disrupted when Ganko lifted up the other similar notebook she was holding to check the one Kaoru was holding, her pen landing briefly on a particularly complicated physics illustration. "Hm… I wonder how you draw this silly diagram?" she muttered absent-mindedly to herself. It was then that Kaoru spotted the name on the book cover she was writing in as well!

KOGANEI KAORU.

Kaoru gaped at his name printed in his own handwriting on the front cover. The notebook… was _his_?

All at once, a hundred guesses and suspicions popped into his mind. What was Ganko doing? Messing up his work? Keeping his assignments from him? Scribbling nonsensical stuff in them? To get him in trouble at school?

"Ganko-chan?" he asked hesitantly. He needed to know.

"Hm…?" she gave a distracted reply, her pen flicking rapidly across the book's surface.

"What are you doing?"

It was a while before she spoke. "Kaoru's _kind_ classmates lent him important notes they had taken during lessons at school, and made me bring these home…" she explained briefly, but trailed off as a another new equation caught her attention.

"And then?" Kaoru continued to urge.

"He's going to need to copy these into his own notebook later on anyway, so I'm doing it for him now," she said, then added. "Since it's only copying, it's pretty easy. All he'll have to do after this is read up. I might not understand what the heck all this is about but at least I'm not blind or stupid."

Hardly able to believe his ears, Kaoru bent over Ganko's work. And sure enough, she was attempting another graph that looked, to Kaoru's surprise, every bit as neat and as accurate as the one drawn on Aiko's book. Scanning the page she was finishing and the page before, all he could see were the tidy and elegant handwriting of Ganko, copying down all the exact words from his classmate's book without a single mistake. She'd even high-lighted and underlined the important quotes and key points for him.

Ganko glanced up at her companion, and saw Kaoru gaping at the book, then at her wordlessly. She giggled. "Pretty complicated stuff, isn't it? I'm not sure I even know quarter of the stuff I'm writing."

With difficulty, Kaoru swallowed a lump in his throat –which he suspected was guilt. "Why are you doing this for him?" he asked in a small voice.

Ganko clicked impatiently as she spotted yet another difficult chart on the next page, and looked up a bit later. "Well you think that kid would be able to write much in his current condition?" she rolled her eyes as if it was most obvious. Kaoru looked down at his own toddler's hands. True, he'd most probably be able to write _some_ stuff, but drawing diagrams and charts and equations? He wasn't that sure.

"And besides," continued Ganko with a slight sneer, flipping back a dozen pages to where they were still full of Kaoru's own handwriting, which was more or less a mass of untidy and almost undecipherable scrawl.

"I'd be really surprised if he could make out half the stuff he'd written himself. It looks like ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics."

For another one and a half hours, the room was silent, with only the unceasing sound of pencil and pen scratching on dry paper.

"Uh… have you finished?" Kaoru had long gotten tired of lying there thinking and trying to puzzle out everything, so he sat up in bed, legs crossed. He wanted to know a lot of things, and he has decided that he couldn't wait anymore.

Stifling a tired yawn, Ganko stretched lazily. "Ah… almost," she answered shortly, and went back to the model chemistry lab report she was copying. Kaoru decided to shoot his first question.

"What do you think of Kaoru?"

"Koganei?"

"Yea."

Ganko stopped writing and chewed her pencil, pretending to think. "He's a flirt, end of story," she said decidedly. Then, catching the look on his face, she laughed out loud.

"Come on…" Kaoru urged beseechingly. Ganko suppressed her laughter.

"Oh well, he's bloody smart," said Ganko matter-of-factly because it _was_ the truth. "And a really popular kid too cause he's really nice to people." She paused to think, then continued. "He's awfully brave, witty, and good looking too." And as she continued to admit all those things she would _never_ say in front of Kaoru, a gradual tinge of pink surface on her cheeks. And to hide her embarrassment, she continued to write furiously.

He frowned in his head. She never told him all that face to face before. But on the other hand, why should she?

Kaoru took a deep breath.

"Ganko-chan."

"Hm…?"

"Do you like him?"

The scribbling sound stopped, followed by a moment of utter silence.

"Who's him?"

"Koganei Kaoru."

Another pause. Then a soft, light-hearted chuckle.

"Well, he _could_ be a pain in the ass sometimes, but if I hate him I wouldn't be doing this for him would I?" Ganko questioned, holding up the half-finished lab report. "So, of course I like him," and with that, she lowered her head and kept on writing.

"No!" said Kaoru. That wasn't what he meant! She was purposely misinterpreting his question. "I didn't mean that kind of 'like', what I meant by 'like' was as in the 'like-like' kind of 'like', the kind of 'like' that would eventually lead to love." After all that, even he wasn't quite sure what he meant.

Silence again.

"Kondo…" said Ganko slowly. Kaoru could tell that she was trying to be patient. "We've already gone through that, and I'm still not telling you. So don't push me."

"But Ganko…"

"I think we'd better sleep," Ganko cut him off and immediately pushed all the books and stuff back onto the study table and turned out the lights. The room was instantly plunged into immediate darkness. Unaccustomed to the sudden lack of light, Kaoru rubbed his eyes, then reached out, and his hands touched Ganko's soft cheeks. To his horror, he felt wetness beneath his fingers.

Ganko was crying.

Dumb-stricken, Kaoru didn't know what to say. But he needn't have worried, for before long, Ganko spoke up.

"Didn't it ever occur to you, Kondo, how I managed to alter your appearance and make you look like him?" she said slowly, and without waiting for an answer, she continued. "You know how the Kata Kugutsu works. It wouldn't function without extremely strong emotions, like desire, affection, anger or grief to control it. Like me with my mother…" she said, her voice grew distant as her memories drifted slowly back in time. "My agonizing distress from the loss, and the desperate desire to bring her back, to see her again no matter what, enabled me to wield the Kata Kugutsu, and that was what Kurei had wanted in the first place."

Kaoru listened in silence. Strangely, his heart was tugging painfully. He knew all of this of course, and he didn't mean to bring up all these sad reminiscences. He realized that he didn't at all like to see her like this.

Ganko abruptly turned to face him. "What emotions do _you_ think enabled me to shape you?" she said, her voice rising. Kaoru froze as he noticed her turbulent emotions. Frustration, confusion, and… something else. Yes, the wielder of the Kata Kugutsu must possess extremely strong, and easily provoked emotions. In other words, a weak and helpless person.

"Come on, Koganei. You're not that stupid, I already said earlier that I do not hate you, and what do you have in you that would make me grieve? So what else is left?" she said cynically. Kaoru winced, not missing the sneer, and was stung by the harsh words coming out from Ganko. He realized that she was now speaking to him as if he was the real Kaoru, not Kondo.

Ganko pulled her blankets over her head. "So what if I liked you? Every girl does! I'm no exception, the only difference is that I'm the only one unlucky enough to live under the same roof as you and endure facing you every other lousy day, tolerating your infuriating indifference and at the same time pretending that all this didn't matter!"

There was silence. Kaoru was totally at a loss for words. He had never before thought, or bothered enough to notice, that Ganko actually felt this way towards him. He always did what he felt like doing, said what he felt like saying. Now, he realized, he wanted to care.

A hand reached out without thinking, to stroke her soft silky hair gently. Ganko lowered her blanket and glanced up at him, gazing straight into his charming eyes. Kaoru saw her shook her head violently, as if ridding herself of certain thoughts. The next thing, he immediately felt himself being pulled into a tight embrace.

"I'm sorry, Kondo," she said chokingly. "I'm sorry I was being so horrible just now. I… I really didn't mean to… I shouldn'tve mistaken you for him and taken it all out on you… none of this is your fault. It's just me…"

"Shh… it's okay," Kaoru said as soothingly as he could, stroking her head. Soon, her breaths turned from slightly ragged, into a deep rhythmical breathing, and Kaoru knew that she'd fallen asleep. But he was sure that, at least for him, it was ordained to be a fitful and restless night.

**O+O+O+O+~ B R E A K ~+O+O+O+O**

Ganko gradually awakened to the bright sunlight shining through the opened window right into her eyes. She sat up slowly and saw Kaoru beside her, fast asleep and snoring a little. She smiled, remembering that "Kondo" had been so nice and understanding last night. So, after giving him a soft peck on the forehead and gently tucking him in more comfortably, she jumped out of bed to get ready for school. She made her way down the hallway and down the stairs in her pajamas, towards the bathroom where she hurriedly brushed her teeth and washed-up. Then, about to climb the stairs, Ganko thought she saw something behind them. Something familiar. Perplexed, she walked around behind the stairs, and saw–

"Kondo?" Ganko bent down and picked up the motionless dummy on the floor.

This wasn't right, Kondo was supposed to be in her bedroom this very moment, snoring his head off!

Hm… could he have come down looking for her and accidentally dropped the Kata Kugutsu?

_No_, she frowned, looking around. The Kata Kugutsu was nowhere around to be found. Besides, it wasn't loosely tied, so it wouldn't have dropped so easily.

Which left the explanation of…

But… but it couldn't be, right?

Staring at the lifeless dummy in her hands and unable to convince herself, Ganko pursed up her lips in determination and marched upstairs. Closing the door to her room behind her, she walked up to her bed where "Kondo" was lying. For a while, she stood there, gazing at the little figure snuggled amongst the folds of her comforter. She still wasn't entirely sure… but she desperately hoped and hoped that her assumptions were dead wrong.

_Or else._

Taking a deep breath, she leaned down close to his right ear and whispered in an oh-so gentle voice.

"Kaoru… Kaoru-chan, it's time to wake up…"

Any normal person in this half-asleep state would naturally respond only to their true names, and Morikawa Ganko's worst fears were verified when the sleepy miniature figure of Koganei Kaoru mumbled a muzzy "Um… ok…", sat up and started to rub his eyes cutely.

Koganei Kaoru finished rubbing his eyes and looked up, and immediately found himself facing the face of the real Kondo! Yelping, he jumped back against the wall and lifted his gaze to look at Ganko who had been holding up the doll.

"Do you _have_ to scare me to death first thing in the morning?" he complained.

At that, Ganko's eyes widened. "**_I_** scared you to death?" she gave a strangled cry. "Is that what you have to say after _this_?" she held up the dummy roughly.

"Hey, you were the one who kidnapped me into your den in the first place!"

"I thought you were Kondo, you impersonating little Anki-creep!"

"Well, who's the Barbie-look-alike who made that fox-thing impersonate ME?"

"WHY YOU–!" Ganko stopped herself just in time, and tried to smother her rage. Beating up an under-aged termite isn't really something she'd be proud to admit she'd done. She turned her back on him swiftly and took a deep breath. Recalling what he had said earlier brought tears into her eyes, and they stung.

Those weren't exactly nice words, especially since she had let all and everything spill last night. It made her heart contort with pain and her mind swim with embarassment. She was as blank as a paper in front of him now. He knew _everything!_ Biting her lip in anger at herself, she glanced at the clock, and realized that lousy as the day had started, she didn't really want to miss classes.

Kaoru's eyes opened wide as dinner plates as he stared in amazement and shock when Ganko, her back still facing him, started to pull off her clothes in front of him!

"Wh… what're you doing?" he stuttered. Ganko shot him a cold glance.

"If your commonsense has failed you, I'm changing," she replied cynically.

"Uh… but I…" with his tongue absolutely refusing to comply to his commands, Kaoru could only continue to stammer stupidly.

Ganko rolled her eyes coldly as she hooked on her bra. "Oh stop acting innocent Koganei," she flashed him a sardonically sweet smile. "Besides," she added, turning around abruptly and leaned down seductively at an angle so that Kaoru might get an interesting view of her. "I really haven't anything on me that you haven't seen already, have I?" she said. Kaoru gulped loudly, trying to swallow a lump in his throat. Then, letting out a self-mocking laugh, Ganko stood up and proceeded to put on her uniform.

"Ganko, that's not what I–" he began, but was cut off.

"I'm sure you've got your answers to whatever you came to find out, and I hope you're happy cause it really cost me a lot," she said with iciness enough to rival that of Tokiya's.

"Please, this isn't what I wanted…" he was surprised at the outright pleading tone in his voice.

"Well then what DO you want?" Ganko swirled around and snarled fiercely. Kaoru was totally taken aback by the whole new Ganko he was seeing in front of him.

"I've told you everything I thought about you, admitted that I had a crush on you, spilled all my feelings so now I'm as blank as a piece of dumb paper and hell, I even cried in front of you so now you'll know that I am such a weakling, not to mention all those free nude shows I performed in front of you! What more do you want? What more can I give?" Ganko bit her bottom lip hard to hold back the tears that were threatening to tumble pell-mell out of her clear blue eyes. She took another deep breath to soothe the heavy pain forming in her chest.

"Never mind," she muttered before slinging her bag onto her shoulders and left without another word.

Kaoru sat there for a long time, staring into space.

Why? Why had Ganko taken what he had said the way she did? This really really REALLY wasn't what he'd wanted. He'd never intended to make anyone sad, never planned to hurt anyone, especially her… It was all supposed to end with him admitting that he'd wrestled Kondo out of his madougu and have Ganko fix him back, and then everyone goes back to their normal daily lives and leave him to figure things out himself.

He needed to think. Something wasn't quite right about all this. Something was amiss… something he still couldn't quite put his finger on.

There was a missing link to why he had been finding himself behaving weirdly... and why was he having such a lot of worries all of a sudden, and why Ganko suddenly seemed… different to him.

There was an answer to all these why's. And he was determined to find it, one way or another, for his and Ganko's own good.

TO BE CONTINUED

**Ok, all you guys who want to bash me for breaking my promise and not putting up Tofu can do it now. I'm SO sorry I broke my promise, I really am. It's just that after that last bit in the previous chapter, I had to follow up with the little Kaoru/Ganko episode first so I could get it out of the way before settling on full, hardcore Tofu stuff. But alas, what was MEANT to be a 'little' episode of the two, supposedly only taking up quarter of the length of a chapter I usually do (and leaving the rest for Tofu), to my horror ended up longer than ANY of my previous chapters, making it impossible to put in anything more! I had to include all those inner-thoughts and struggles or else it would all seem so lame and shallow. Unmeaningful. (is that even a word? Oh well!) As I said, for those readers who were really anticipating Tofu, I'm really sorry to disappoint you. And I promise, now that Kaoru/Ganko is out of the way (I had already planned earlier to leave this hanging until I get some Tofu stuff done) I have a FULLY planned Tofu episode coming up in the next chapter and I can assure you it's definitely going to be as good as, if not better, than this one. (And it'll probably take up about 2 chapters) So, be patient, and read and review this time round, k? please?**


	4. Special Chapter

**Chapter 4 -**

**To my dear readers, new and old, after so many years, and thinking loads about it, I have finally decided to continue and finish this story. Readers may have gone from few to nil, but a big part of me is writing this for me, so nyah! If you're a new reader, you might be wondering what the heck is going on: I stopped writing this fic years back cos I was put off by the dumb ending of the otherwise awesome manga, despite the protests of my old readers. So yeah, you're lucky if you're reading this for the first time, and I promise this time I won't leave it undone. To my old readers, in case you're reading this, I apologise again, and hope you still find your way back to this story, lol.**

**Disclaimer: *Disclaims***

Sitting at one of the tables next to the windows at McDonald's, Kirisawa Fuuko slowly peeled the wrapping off her burger. She glanced up again at the silent but extremely charming young boy sitting opposite her, quietly sipping coke, his eyes now half-concealed by eyelids lined with long eyelashes, vision vaguely tracing the patterns engraved on the table. Fuuko frowned slightly.

"Are you sure that's all you're having?" she said, eyeing the sole cup of coke on the table in front of him. At her remark, Mikagami Tokiya lifted his head. Unfathomable blue green eyes, streaked with dashes of icy grey trained onto her clear sapphire ones. After a while, he opened his mouth, and the straw in it flicked out, causing droplets of coke to fly across the table.

"Yea, if this's all we're having for dinner."

Fuuko looked down at the few tiny droplets of coke that had landed onto her white blouse. "Well yea, this IS what we're having for dinner. Did you think after this I was going to take you to eat at Ginza?" she snapped. (*Ginza is a really posh place to dine and shop at in Japan)

After that, there was silence, where one refused to entertain the other. A few moments later…

"Are you going to eat or what? Cause I'm not buying you anything later," Fuuko huffed.

The boy stuck the straw back into his mouth.

"I don't fancy junk food," he said shortly.

"For your information, Yanagi cut down my weekly allowance to $20 per week so even **I **have to starve. You're in no place to complain," Fuuko fumed, shoving two pieces of fries into her mouth. Hm… maybe she shouldn'tve sped the other day and got a two hundred dollar fine, in which the payment automatically goes to the Hokage team piggy bank that Yanagi was in charge of. And now this was her punishment.

"Pitiful," he commented lightly, but the tone of scorn was just a tad bit apparent in his voice. At his jeer, the violet-haired young lady stood up and flared.

"Well, tough luck for you too, my dear boy, since you're stuck with me!" she yelled.

Tokiya slowly lifted his indifferent-looking eyes, straw still in his mouth. With his thumb, he gestured around them. Responsively, Fuuko swirled around and caught every eye in the restaurant staring at them. Feeling the heat of anger and embarrassment boiling over her, Fuuko death-glared. "Do I look like a walrus in bikini? GET BACK TO YOUR FOOD!" she hollered.

Immediately, everyone dove back to their food, not daring to find out what would happen if they didn't. Fuuko slumped back into her seat huffily. Great, now they'd think she must be some juvenile mom with her kid who probably didn't even know who his dad was. Stuffing the last bit of burger into her mouth, she finished her drink and chucked her wallet back into her bag.

"Hurry up and finish that," she urged the silver-haired toddler. Seeing Tokiya give her a questioning frown, Fuuko rolled her eyes. "So we can go get you something for your delicate stomach," she explained curtly, throwing in a light taunt.

Tokiya opened his mouth and the straw flicked out again. "I have a decent appetite, that's all," he corrected mildly and jumped off his chair, leaving the half-finished cup of coke. Fishing out her keys, Fuuko reminded herself once more not to bother talking back. It was one of those things that she and Tokiya would never, never see eye to eye on. They soon reached the car park and found Fuuko's green motorcycle, and she lifted Tokiya off the ground by his armpits and settled him onto the backseat.

Catching, on his face, the familiar look of slight distaste at her vehicle, she spoke lightly. "Not everyone can afford a car, Mi-chan." She placed a helmet on his head and fastened the strap under his chin.

"I don't see why you can't just borrow mine." Okay, something about that remark sounded wrong. Somehow, that didn't sound like him.

Too pouty.

Fuuko whistled tauntingly. "Ooo, did I just hear some whining coming from _**the **_Mikagami Tokiya?" she laughed.

He scowled in response and Fuuko shrugged. "I don't like trouble, that's why. It's so stressful being in charge of other people's stuff," she explained as she hauled herself onto the seat as well and revved the engine. She turned to face him. "Hold onto my waist."

But Tokiya circled his fingers around the backseat handrails. "I can hold onto these."

Fuuko shrugged. "Suit yourself," she said unconcernedly, and put on her helmet. There was a you-will-regret-it-look on her face that made Tokiya uneasy. And the moment the vehicle abruptly jumped to life and shot forward, the boy at the back had to throw his hands forwards and grab the young lady's firm waist to keep from tumbling backwards off the motorcycle. Swallowing his heart back in place, Mikagami Tokiya felt tricked.

"You don't have to go so fast," he complained, and immediately rolled his eyes at himself. This really wasn't his night, now he was starting to sound like some silly girl scared of a little speed, when he was actually just disliking the speed for countering his reluctance to circle his arms around… okay, around her waist!

He was interrupted presently.

"This is my normal velocity," Fuuko turned back, answering his earlier complaint.

Turning back to face the front, she stuck her tongue out at herself. This wasn't **really** her usual speed, but Mi-chan didn't need to know.

**That's it for this round, it's a short chapter cos it used to be my "departing gift". So, below is my old note, which I will leave here for the credit and benefit of my old readers. But updates will be put up next chapter. See you guys then~**

* * *

**Well, this is it, yea. Hope you all enjoyed it, though I admit it's bloody short. I know it's sudden and I'm still really sorry about all this (especially to "Nobody you know", I bet you're kind of mad now), but I just don't have the confidence to write anymore… But I don't want to kill all your hope guys, if I can somehow find a way to rekindle this confidence and also find a way to continue this, I would. ****Thank you to the list of people who had supported this fic:**

**Da*mouse  
****Xabie  
****Whitesiren  
****Haruko1**

**And also all the rest of my reviewers, thank you. I'll continue reading your fics though!**


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